Tag Archives: real food

^^ A sentence many a man has said over the years and continues to say to this day.

“I want to be lean and strong”

^^ Something I’m pleased to announce more women are saying, it seems there has been a shift in them saying ‘I just want to be skinny’ to now learning the benefit of being lean and strong, it’s great to see.

While it is only my opinion, I feel everybody should be strong.

I’m not talking about record breaking strong, just strong enough to stay healthy and stave off the effects of ageing on the body.

These sports all centre around lifting:

– Weightlifting (olympic lifting)

– Body Building

– Powerlifting

– Strongman

– CrossFit (some may not like this one)

Did you know lifting weights can have the following positive effects on the body:

Personally I’d say the mental improvement is the pivotal one as this can have the biggest impact on a persons life in a very positive way.

However….

If you’re not an athlete and lift for health/confidence you should do it because you enjoy it, not because you feel you have to, that’s the secret to balance and long term sustainability.

Don’t eat yourself up if you miss a session, chalk it up to life and sue it as a rest day, that way you’ll be more motivated when you get to go in, excited to train in fact. Keep this in mind and you’ll find you don’t fall out of love with training.

What if lifting isn’t for you?

That’s cool, find soothing you do enjoy, here are some other options for improving strength and all achieving all the other benefits mentioned above:

The allure of weight gains shakes, supplements and other such things tempt in many a person, but you don’t need them.

You will find that you can get everything you need from food.

While I can see how supplements are convenient they’re not necessary. If you actually take the time to prepare some meals for the day you will notice you get more results than if you rely on your magical supplements.

Here are some alternatives that are cheaper and in my opinion far better for you.

Pre-Workout: Espresso.
Intra-Workout: Water.
Post Workout:

Try this home made shake.

100g Oatmeal
10 Egg Whites
50g of Berries or 1 Banana
1-2 Table Spoons of Nut Butter
350ml of Water or Whole Milk if you really want some extra calories.

It’s not too close to 10, but its far enough away from 1 to make it look like a committing number, this give people the opportunity to sound committed when they’re really not – Watch out for the number 7 because it can often a 1 in disguise.

While the number 7 doesn’t really have any relevance to the faux-pas for today other than the fact we on the 7th faux-pas, I thought you might like to know the psychology behind peoples love for the number 7.

Fat Loss Faux-pas #7 – Meal Replacement Meals (Shakes/Supplements)

When some embark on their fat loss journey it is very easy to become entangled in the web of meal replacement companies that offer the QUICK FIX solution to fat loss. There is not quick fix short of surgery I’m afraid.

Meal replacement shakes, bars etc are often man made and might contain some rather interesting ingredients. While there have been plenty of people that have lost a considerable amount of fat on these, there is a considerable amount more who haven’t lost and or piled all the weight they lost on the shakes back and plus some more just to be safe.

These monstrosities will lead people to avoiding actual food almost entirely – That’s a very bad thing. It could potentially lead to some psychological issues and disassociation with food, you will do well to avoid going down this route.

In my opinion there is no substitute for nutrient dense whole foods, some might even call them REAL FOODS when compared to the Frankenfoods that we mortars have created. Eating the majority of your calories (if not all of them) from whole foods will benefit your waistline far more than meal replacements ever could.